Archive for November, 2013

The wild, wild west has always been the bedrock of many an interesting yarn to listen to, and even until today, there are young and impressionable kids out there who would love to live out the life of a sheriff, hunting down outlaws and making sure that those who practice a life of crime will not be able to reap the temporary rewards that accompany it. For that young one of yours who does seem to have a penchant for guns, the £14.99 Stixtoy Gun might be a reasonable purchase for the coming holiday season.

With it, you are more than free to come up with your very own rubberband toy gun, and it would be interesting to see dads fight with their kids for ownership of this puppy. I say, why not get two of these bad boys and run riot around the home? Those who can remember how in their younger days, they used rubberbands with twigs and branches to create their own “gun”, but why not let someone do all the work for you while you start to device your next “stick-up”? Who knows, it could very well be a raid on the kitchen for that prized cookie jar and its contents. [ Stixtoy Gun helps your little ones get started young copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

SteelSeries is widely known amongst the gaming community for having amazing peripherals. One of my personal favorites was the Sibera V2 headset. It isn’t the cream of the crop, but it’s affordable, and does my most beloved tunes justice. However, technology is always in an ever-changing state, and it came as no surprise that SteelSeries would come out with a bigger, better headset.

Enter in the Siberia Elite. As the name implies, it’s got a lot more going on under the hood, and looks good to boot! This white headset is complimented by rings of LED light on the outside ear cup, both of which are capable of 16.8 million different color possibilities. On the left ear cup, you will be able to rotate a dial to mute or unmute your microphone. The right side ear cup has a dial that will let you control the volume. This means no more fiddling with in-line controls. The band that goes across the top of your head uses a self-adjusting suspension system so that it won’t become too heavy over time.

The ear cups are made of leather, and will put virtual 7.1 surround sounds into your ear holes. Thanks to the SteelSeries Engine 3, you can customize those sounds specifically in 10 different profiles so you can get the most out of each game you play. The microphone is capable of noise reduction, meaning you won’t sound terrible during a call. It is also retractable, so when you’re not talking to friends it won’t be in your way. This will cost you $200, and has a swappable cable system so it can be used on anything from a PC to your smartphone.

We admire those take home projects on without hesitation. Show your appreciation for their passion with a DIY gadget this season. Who knows? Maybe it will also make you some brownie points to cash in when YOU need help on a home project.

We love listening to music. It speaks to us through the best of times and the worst of times. That being said, it should be no wonder that we want it on, loud, and playing constantly. There’s nothing more annoying than having your favorite song come on, and not have the ability to be fully immersed in it because you can’t turn it up any more.

This would be a good time for either an external speaker, or a way to turn up the volume even higher on your headphones. The NuForce Cube Portable Speaker will help you do just that. It will be a step up from whatever your current ear buds are, and can act solidly as a standalone speaker. It has an output of 3W, and a DAC that can provide 16bit/8kHz of sound.

It’s made of aluminum, plastic, and cloth, and only weighs 6 ounces. This is perfect for presentations, cars without a sound system, or just jamming anywhere in the house. As someone who doesn’t always like wireless devices (when they don’t work), it makes me happy to see that this is a plug-and-play. It comes with a 3.5mm cable that is two feet long, a USB cable that is 2′ 4”, and a carrying pouch. The biggest downside is that this little thing will cost you $100, which seems like just a bit too much for what it is.

In this fast paced world of technology, you can never quite tell just when will the next big thing hit the market, although there has been duds and surprises in the past. Headsets or headphones are not exactly the most exciting kind of peripherals when you think about it, but this does not mean that changes made to it have been slow. No sir, here we are with LG Electronics rolling out the LG Tone Ultra, and it so happens to be the most recent version of its extremely popular Bluetooth stereo headset. If you have a penchant for model numbers, then the LG Tone Ultra is easier referred to as the HBS-800. Do not expect it to be a normal headset, as it will be feature packed to the brim, and will definitely be able to continue from where its predecessor, the LG Tone (HBS-700/730) left off.

As to whether the LG Tone Ultra will be able to sell more than two million units as did the original LG Tone remains to be seen. Still, here is what we do know about the LG Tone Ultra – it was specially developed in order to deliver a superior audio experience alongside eyebrow-raising stereo sound. Through the use of noise reduction technology that they have called ambient noise cancellation (ANC), the LG Tone Ultra will be able to do its bit to block out background noise, so that you, the listener, are able to to focus on the music or conversation without any distractions in the background.

Apart from that, LG’s special around-the neck design has also been improved in the LG Tone Ultra as it adopts the ergonomic 3D Neck Behind design that can be found in previous models. Not only that, it will be able to be paired to any Bluetooth-supported device, ranging from smartphones to tablets and notebooks, while the unique multiple access function lets two Bluetooth devices to connect to the Tone Ultra simultaneously. Pricing details remain to be determined, but it should arrive later next month in selected territories.

Are all clocks created equal? The answer is definitely not, but I would assume that for the most of us, we would happily settle for a simple digital or analog clock that sits on our desk, hang on the living room wall, or simply refer to the wristwatch that we wear all the time. How about adding more functions to your everyday timepiece? This is what the £29.99 Click Cube Clocks is all about, as it will arrive in black and walnut shades from early next month onward to make it a candidate for your Christmas shopping list.

For starters, the Click Cube Clocks would be able to let you tell the time at a glance, unlike those Tokyoflash watches that require you to perform some sort of mental calculation before arriving at the exact minute. Not only that, the Click Cube Clocks do more than just tell the time, as they are also able to show the temperature and date. Teenagers and sleep lovers will be pleased to know that a snooze function has also been thrown into the mix to accompany the alarm, letting you sleep in a little bit longer, while the lack of wires translate to you being able to place it just about anywhere you like without the risk of tripping over. The magic of the Click Cube Clock lies in the fact that the time will be displayed at the snap of your fingers, or when you tap the bedside table it is on gently. [ Click Cube Clocks tell the time in a fun way copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

When it comes to gaming peripherals, you know for sure that one name has ended up as a household recommendation to many gamers, and that would be Razer. Keyboards, mice, crazy claw-like controls, mouse mats and heck, even headphones, have become quite the area of specialty for Razer, and this time around, we have something which has been named after a famed underwater monster – the Kraken. We are talking about the Razer Kraken Forged Edition headphones that will be able to bring a careful balance between the aesthetics as well as performance.

For starters, the Razer Kraken Forged Edition will arrive crafted with ear cups that have been machined out of aircraft-grade aluminum, followed by a finishing of a matte texture. In fact, just like those extremely precise Swiss timepieces, the Razer Kraken Forged Edition too, has been specially hand-assembled to make sure that every single one of these headphones would arrive right out of the box with premium build quality, looks and guts.

Thanks to Razer’s bunch of dedicated audio engineers who have spent countless hours fine-tuning the Kraken Forged Edition’s 40 mm bass-heavy drivers, you can more or less say that perfection has been achieved, or it ranks pretty much high up there. This would mean the neodymium pair will play nice together with the headphone’s acoustic chambers and isolated closed ear cup design that helps to deliver booming bass, accompanied by clear mids and crisp highs. It does not matter whether you are gaming or listening to your favorite tunes, the Razer Kraken Forged Edition will still be able to deliver.

Apart from that, the Razer Kraken Forged Edition would also feature a swappable cable with an in-line microphone, letting users convert it easily into a headset for gaming or telephony. If you happen to reside Stateside, it will cost you $299.99 a pop, while our friends living across the pond will have to pay €299.99 as usual. The Razer Kraken Forged Edition would be available worldwide from next month onward.

While we don’t necessarily need to buy a new shiny gadget every year, we almost can’t help doing so. That saying of “things aren’t made like they used to be” holds true to an obnoxious degree. Our phones, speakers, monitors and more crap out after a few years, and if that’s not enough, they become seriously outdated within six months to a year after buying it. What if we could buy a product you only needed to purchase once?

Helium is a supercapacitor-powered portable speaker that looks classy, and can be changed to keep up with modern standards. How does using a supercapacitor make things different? First off, it can be charged over half a million times rather than a few hundred, and it will charge up in a matter of minutes rather than hours. Not only that, but it can keep going for six hours at full blast off of that charge. There are two different options, mono or stereo, but both offer 4” full-range drivers.

The cabinets are made of bamboo because that resource is highly renewable, and helps the acoustics. For all of you creative thinkers out there, this is open-source hardware. Purchasing one of these will cost you anywhere from $300-850 depending on your specifications. There is also a $5,000 custom project option that will let you design whatever you want with a Helium Speaker, have it come into being, and sent to your door. If only all gadgets and gizmos kept this kind of standard.

Have you heard of MuseMini before? They happen to be the ones behind a slew of wireless audio accessories which will target those who live out the active lifestyle. This time around, MuseMini has announced the availability of the ClipR, which is a device that will enable users to be able to take full control of their wireless lifestyle, where just about anything that has a 3.5mm audio jack can be transformed to feature Bluetooth and NFC connectivity, allowing it to play nice with all of the newer devices that offer such connectivity options, too. I know, it sure as heck sounds like magic, no?

The ClipR has been carefully engineered so that it can produce rich audio sound transmission to just about any audio output. All that the user will need to do is to hook up the corded accessory into the ClipR using the 3.5mm jack, and to pair it to any NFC or Bluetooth compatible device. In fact, you are able to pair up to 6 devices, while the FutureConnect feature enables you to experience music unlike you ever have in the past via a Bluetooth adaptor, and heck, why not opt to hook it up to your home stereo system as well?

The ClipR has been designed to be used in the home, on the road or even when you are outdoors, and it will also come coated with a special rubber polymer which is touted to be tough enough to be used when ripping the slopes or running the trail. Apart from that, it will also be 100 percent splash proof for that added peace of mind. Just how small is it? Being roughly the size of a half dollar, it is tiny and compact enough to be discreetly clipped anywhere so that it will remain unobtrusive. Truly big performance for such a small device. Boasting built-in controls, users are able to control the tracks, volume and phone right from the palm of their hand. You can pick up the ClipR for $39.99, where it will come in black at the moment, although teal, red, army green and mimosa will be part of the color choices by the time the holiday season arrives.

There are iPhone speaker docks, and then there are iPhone speaker docks. The $8,500 Formula One Speaker Dock would definitely fall into the latter category, where the entire iPhone speaker dock has been made from a material that is not easily found – that is, using the exhaust manifold of a Formula One race car that is no longer in used. This particular iPhone speaker dock has been specially crafted in Modena, Italy, which is the city which many have already touted to be the cradle of Italian race car innovation.

It uses either left or right manifold of a retired eight-cylinder F1 engine of your choice, where among them would include a 1978 Cosworth DFV, 2006 Renault RS26, and 2007 Ferrari 056, among others. Within the openings of the manifold’s four headpipes, there will be neodymium magnets, a couple of silk-dome, 70-watt tweeters and two PPM-cone, 70-watt mid-range speakers each in order to deliver clear highs and mids. At the end of the manifold’s collector tube, you will find a doped-paper cone 140-watt active subwoofer that is being driven by a high-density flux ferrite which will pump out booming bass. This particular iPhone speaker dock will play nice only with iPhones and iPods with 30-pin connectors.[ Formula One Speaker Dock looks too good to be used copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]